Willis pension scheme signs up to PFaroe in order to grasp de-risking opportunities

Willis, the global risk adviser and insurance broker, has selected RiskFirst as its technology partner to provide more detailed analytics on its pension scheme, which has liabilities of £1.3 billion. PFaroe®, RiskFirst's award-winning risk management platform, will enable Willis Pensions Trustees to proactively monitor and manage its pension scheme in a more timely and efficient manner - enabling the scheme to seize windows of opportunities to de-risk.

Richard Bostock, Pensions Director at Willis Group, comments; "PFaroe will give us the toolkit necessary for implementing an effective trigger-based de-risking strategy, which will allow us to capitalise on favourable market opportunities far more quickly than ever before. PFaroe will give us immediate and up to date information allowing the trustees to act on market triggers and improve our funding levels in the most efficient way possible."

Benjamin Reid, President of RiskFirst Analytics, comments: "We are delighted that Willis has partnered with RiskFirst in order to drive its dynamic de-risking program. Willis went through a rigorous decision-making procedure and challenged us at every turn, demonstrating their deep understanding of the issues, their knowledge of all products in the market, and indeed their own asset management capability".

PFaroe allows all pension scheme stakeholders to have daily access to their entire scheme information online. This changes the nature of the debate. Discussions focus on more relevant topics and it becomes easier for schemes to be managed at the highest levels of governance. All advice can be modelled and the effects of any action mapped out. This often avoids mistakes that may be very costly and may, in some cases, lose schemes millions of pounds.

About RiskFirst

RiskFirst Analytics (PFA) is a financial technology business providing intuitive, user-friendly risk analytics and business intelligence solutions. Launched by an experienced team in November 2009, its core product PFaroe®, was initially targeted to DB pension schemes, where it is now the market leader in the UK, with a growing foothold in the US. Over 60 schemes, with more than £80 billion of liabilities, now use PFaroe in the UK (circa 8% by market volume). PFaroe and associated products are also making important in-roads into a growing number of other financial verticals, including DC pensions and insurance. For more information please go to www.pensionsfirst.com